fix buffalo today, archive: Neighborhood “Assets” First in a Series

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Neighborhood “Assets” First in a Series

0 Comments Published by fix buffalo on Saturday, February 05, 2005 at 7:12 PM.

For those of you who are not familiar with this Masten neighborhood bounded by Main/Jefferson & Ferry/Utica, I would like to welcome you and introduce you to a part of Buffalo which is rapidly turning into a nascent arts and educational community. It will be stronger and more vibrant as an arts & educational community for residents and students with the completion of the new "Frank E. Merriweather Jr." library. The anticapted "permanent" move of BAVPA - Buffalo Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts to the site recently vacated by Buffalo Traditional High School and the needed preservation of the Woodlawn Row Houses will make this neighborhood that vital link between the East side and the City's West side. There are so many other Neighborhood "Assets " which will be featured here. Check back on a regular basis.

You’ll see the design work of one of our finest architects, Robert Traynham Coles, slowly emerging at the North-West corner of Jefferson and Utica Avenues. In case you don’t know where that is, here’s the map. Yesterday, while on a walk around the neighborhood I entered the job site and took a series of pics. Crews are working on a regular basis and managed to work right thru the debate surrounding the Erie County “Budget Crisis." In the background you can see a few of the new houses situated on the west side of Welker Street. They were constructed last year.

Robert Traynham Coles has an impressive reputation. His commitment and dedication to Buffalo is extraordinary. You can read a letter he wrote last December about urban problems. I heard him speak for the first time a few summers ago on the Bidwell. I arrived late and my first impression was that Buffalo needs a guy like him only to find out that he’s been here all along.

On my way home I saw this new billboard. I thought you might be interested in the strong positive message being conveyed to the young people here on the corner of Jefferson & Ferry. You probably know where that is because you can see 800 West Ferry less than a mile away…

And here's a picture of the old North Jefferson branch that is being replaced. Cool loft possibilities...